I am lucky enough to be travelling in France this May leading a garden tour to Paris, the Loire Valley, Provence and the Dordogne. It is springtime in Europe so we are enjoying tulips in bloom along with blossom trees, magnificent irises and the first peonies and roses.

Today we have reached Blois in the Loire Valley and we are visiting a garden that has probably influenced the way you think about vegetables – yet you may not have visited the garden or even heard of it.

We are at the garden of Villandry, a château that dates back to the...]]>Jennifer Stackhouse2012-05-21T02:06:41+00:00Sunday’s Garden book giveaway!http://blogs.homelife.com.au/gardening/article/sundays-garden-book-giveaway/
http://blogs.homelife.com.au/gardening/article/sundays-garden-book-giveaway/

Enter now to win one of five copies of Sunday’s Garden: Growing Heide book by Lesley Harding and Kendrah Morgan (The Miegunyah Press, RRP $45).

To enter, tell us in 25 words or less why you would like to win this book. Send your answer, address and telephone number to gacompetition@adv.newsltd.com.au before 18th June 2012. Make sure you put ‘Sunday’s Garden’ in the email subject line. To read our review of Sunday’s Garden: Growing Heide book, pick up a copy of our June 2012 issue.

If you’ve forgotten to buy your favourite gardening mum a present, you can conceal your thoughtlessness with some well thought out garden-inspired gifts.

I’m spending my Mother’s Day leading a garden tour to France. I’d recommend garden tours as the ultimate gift for any mum. If you don’t need a gift for today, consider a tour for a special birthday.

Download the brochures for upcoming tours from any of the specialist...]]>Jennifer Stackhouse2012-05-12T22:05:18+00:00Frogshttp://blogs.homelife.com.au/gardening/article/frogs/
http://blogs.homelife.com.au/gardening/article/frogs/

A couple of weeks ago I walked through the Warriewood Wetlands with a girlfriend and our two little girls. We parked behind Warriewood shops, stuck the girls in their strollers and set off through the trees. What a beautiful walk.

If you haven’t done it, I highly recommend it, especially as you can take a break at Flower Power before heading back. Warriewood Wetlands is the largest sand plain wetland in the northern Sydney area, and you walk over boardwalks with reeds marking the way while lizards scurry about, ducks swim past and birds call overhead....]]>Debbie McDonald2012-05-08T05:57:24+00:00Tropical stylehttp://blogs.homelife.com.au/gardening/article/tropical-style/
http://blogs.homelife.com.au/gardening/article/tropical-style/

“All I want is a low-maintenance garden.” As a garden designer, I’ve heard this request over and over again. In fact, it was always a shock if a client asked me for a garden where they actually had to spend time in it.

One of the easiest ways to make a garden low-maintenance is to choose plants that suit the soil and the climate you’re living in. That way, you usually don’t need to protect them from cold, heat or humidity, they thrive on the rain that falls from the sky, and they are generally less susceptible to pests and diseases...]]>2012-05-01T06:53:31+00:00Gaurahttp://blogs.homelife.com.au/gardening/article/gaura/
http://blogs.homelife.com.au/gardening/article/gaura/

Gaura (Gaura lindheimeri) has tall graceful stems that are topped with masses of white or pink flowers that dance in the breeze, just like whirling butterflies. The stems can reach up to 1.5m tall, and there are dwarf cultivars too, such as ‘Passionate Pink’ and ‘Lillipop Pink’, that are more compact at around a metre.

Being a herbaceous perennial, it is dormant during winter then starts to send up the new shoots in early spring. When the shoots reach about 30cm tall, cut them back by half. This creates a more...]]>Debbie McDonald2012-04-02T00:05:39+00:00Courtyard gardenshttp://blogs.homelife.com.au/gardening/article/courtyard-gardens/
http://blogs.homelife.com.au/gardening/article/courtyard-gardens/

Take our place. We have a large garden and there’s always lots of work to do but it is more broad-brush stuff using power equipment or at least lots of grunt. There are paddocks to mow with the slasher hitched up to our old Fergie tractor, hedges to cut back so we can actually get down the driveway and lots of work for both chainsaw and whippersnipper.

In a small garden it is all about finessing, primping and manicuring. If you are fussy, it can take almost as much time to keep a courtyard in order as it can to mow our...]]>Jennifer Stackhouse2012-03-28T02:32:39+00:00Jerusalem artichokeshttp://blogs.homelife.com.au/gardening/article/jerusalem-artichokes/
http://blogs.homelife.com.au/gardening/article/jerusalem-artichokes/

I am enjoying the spectacle of a mass of Jerusalem artichokes (Helianthus tuberosus) in flower now in early autumn. They are growing in a vegie garden near my place. The clump is right next to the chook run. It is making a splash with its tall heads of yellow sunflowers.

As the stems die back in about six weeks there’ll be enough artichokes to feed the entire neighbourhood. Jerusalem artichokes are a species of sunflower and a food crop to have in tough times. They grow easily, produce prolific crops of tubers that provide good...]]>2012-03-27T03:15:01+00:00Bromeliadhttp://blogs.homelife.com.au/gardening/article/bromeliad/
http://blogs.homelife.com.au/gardening/article/bromeliad/

In recent years, gardeners have been turning to foliage colour to ensure year-round interest and bromeliads are the ideal plant to use. Bromeliads are incredibly adaptable plants as they can be used indoors, outdoors, in pots and in trees. And they range in size from 3cm to a gigantic 10m wide.

The leaves of most varieties are arranged in rosettes that can be flattish to upright and tubular. Many rosettes form cylindrical cups that hold water to sustain them until the next rain. Their leaves come in many colours, shapes and exquisite...]]>Debbie McDonald2012-03-24T03:48:53+00:00Welcome from Jenniferhttp://blogs.homelife.com.au/gardening/article/welcome-from-jennifer/
http://blogs.homelife.com.au/gardening/article/welcome-from-jennifer/

Welcome to the new-look homelife website! I hope you enjoy exploring the new features on the site including the gardening advice and information.

In the garden we are also moving into new territory with the first day of autumn occurring tomorrow, March 1. You may have noticed days getting shorter and the mornings darker (although the end of daylight saving on April 1 in states that put their clocks forward for summer gives back some morning light).

Depending on where you live, you may even notice the first signs of autumn foliage colour on deciduous...]]>2012-02-29T04:38:05+00:00